The International Music Summit returns marks the first day of the season.

To many, the meeting of minds from across the electronic music industry in Ibiza represents a sign the new season has begun. This fact is truer today than ever before as IMS returns after a two-year delay. Taking up residence in the gleaming Destino resort, the summit promises to address the current topics and issues that affect the industry today.

From discussing the changes within the industry following the pandemic to how worldwide events are affecting the lives of all those connected to it, the various presentations allow delegates to gain an insight into the working world of the business. The event also hosts various workshops throughout the day, designed to educate guests on new technology which are transforming the fortunes of businesses.

IMS invited us to experience the summit in its new form at the Pacha owned venue. Read below the highlights from our visit on the event opening day.

Opening Remarks 

Photo: David Holderbach

Anyone will tell you that the weather has been terrible in Ibiza over the past week. That said, moods were instantly lifted as soon as guests stepped through the registration of IMS. There was a buzz and excitement in the air that we think most people had missed for some time. 

Around the aqua pool of Destino, people were catching up after a long period from meeting face to face, clutching proudly to their delegate IMS goodie bags. The layout of the venue allowed people to move from each section with ease, as one visitor commented; “It feels more cohesive here, feels like more of community”. 

Before long it was time to head into the Opening Keynote, hosted by BBC Radio One presenter Jaguar. Welcoming guests back, IMS co-founder, Ben Turner spoke about the return of the summit: “It’s quite surreal, I’m shaking, but the reconnection is inspiring”. A sentiment which most would agree with, given the all too recent hardships that the dance music industry has faced.

Beatport – Road to Recovery

Photo: James Chapman

Beatport CEO, Rob McDaniels took the stage next with a blueprint for the ‘Road to Recovery’. Speaking positively about the current state of affairs he gave five reasons as to why “we will emerge from the pandemic, not only successfully, but better off than a few years ago”. He went on to make a splash, stating that the company would invest $100,000 in an idea that would achieve gender parity across the industry.

Breaking it down, he named; Gritty, Adaptable, Compassionate, Innovative and Experienced as the key characteristics as the why his team succeeded during the pandemic. Determination in achieving positive impact and thinking outside the box was crucial in Beatport’s projects during the pandemic. 

An example of this was their collaboration with a Twitch streaming channel, which has led the online music store to gain 250 million streams from the live sets they organised. Touching on a compassionate note, these live streams generated half a million dollars for mental health and Ukrainian fund charities. On this subject, McDaniels noted; “We have to be leaders in change, and again this generational, this happened in the 60s and 70s, and it’s going to happen again the next 10 years, we have to be leaders”

IMS Business Report

Photo: James Chapman

A staple of the international music summit is the annual business report, where keen entrepreneurs can gather notes on the business reports giving an indication of the year ahead. Presented by David Boyle, this year’s key points reflected on comparisons from this year’s figures against pre-COVID statistics. Here’s a quick round-up of the most enlightening information;

• Electronic festivals and the club industry were valued at $2.5 billion this year. A huge bounce back from last year but still to rise to pre-pandemic levels.
• There is record demand for festivals and clubs after lockdown. Festivals are still well behind pre-pandemic levels in terms of numbers but the demand is massive.
• Pioneer DJ’s Mark Grotefeld says young buyers of kit don’t necessarily see themselves as ‘DJs’, they are buying ‘mixtape machines’ for home entertainment.
• Live streaming growth slowed down in 2021. The upshot is that engaging your communities and audience is becoming more important than building that audience up. Connection not attention, in other words.

Keynote Interview – Nastia 

Photo: David Holderbach

The first of the Keynote Interviews came from Ukrainian DJ Nastia, who spoke about the Russian invasion and war in her country. Ukraine was a hotspot for electronic music during the pandemic as the country experienced a less serious influx of the virus, the spread was kept to a minimum with testing, so events were still allowed to go ahead. 

When the war began, Nastia was forced to flee the country with her daughter, though this upset did not affect her determination to keep on playing gigs. From this, she started a fundraiser to support those families who were unable to escape the conflict. Despite some public backlash, she stated that she sees her profession as a career and if she can use her platform as a widely known artist to inform people about the truth and create awareness, then it’s a step in the right direction

Speaking on the politics of it all, she spoke about the need for support from Russian artists, who would be willing to speak up against the war. Making a valid point about the possible progression of the aggression beyond Ukraine, Nastia said; “This war is not just about Ukraine. we are fighting for the freedom of all of Europe, for the humanity of the whole world.”

Extra Activities

Photo: James Chapman

IMS is more than just the Keynote speeches. The entire event is designed to allow people to maximise the networking opportunities with Destino opening up various spaces for both casual and crucial meetings. In the outdoor areas, we found various areas that piqued our curiosity, such as The Art of Areté hosted by Pioneer DJ. This sanctuary of wellness had a daily programme of physical mental health workshops such as Vedic meditation, breathwork, sunset hikes and more.

Under a massive tent, was the IMS Tech X which featured the latest and greatness innovations from both big-name brands like Pioneer and smaller startups like Luna. Pioneer had a myriad of devices on display, showcasing that they truly are still the market leaders when it comes to CDJS. Most impressive, we felt was the presentation by Tribe which showcased the utilisation of VR headsets with a virtual reality DJing software.

Around lunchtime, we stopped to enjoy a quick bite to eat from the food trucks located in and around the Jacuzzi bar. Whilst we tucked into a pulled pork bun, the afternoon’s soundtrack was provided by Ultra Music who had set themselves up poolside. Rounding off the day, Manchester duo Solardo took over the decks, providing a vibe that had faces beaming in the late afternoon.

TikTok & Youtube 

Photo: David Holderbach

Global Head of Music at Tiktok, Ole Obermann spoke about how music has been integral to the social media app’s exponential growth. Giving credit to the creators, he said that the inspired creativity of these creatives allows viewers to soak in a story within a very short amount of time. Quoting New York Times; “TikTok is the last sunny corner of the internet,” he said that the main attraction is that people are producing fun things with joyful messages.

On how this connected to music, he gave some important statistics; “430 song snippets in 2021 passed a billion views on Tiktok, a threefold increase on 2020. 40 UK number ones in 2021 started on Tik Tok. 80% of users say they discover music on TikTok before seeking it out on Spotify.”  These numbers pointed toward the potential of the marketing power of the app, given the ability for any song published to Tiktok to go viral across the platform.

Sometime later, the team from YouTube took the stage to talk about their own short-form content platform within the long-established video platform, appropriately named Shorts. Youtube first gave examples of how many genres of music content were hosted on Youtube, specifically pointing toward the successes of live streaming channels like LoFi girl and Dom Whiting.

Moving onto the benefits of shorts, they stated that Shorts allows an artist to build audiences and keep them engaged with content that’s fast, fun and easy to make. Furthermore, statistics are showing that Shorts are generating 30 billion views a day – a staggering figure. 

Connecting this to beats, they said that music is essential in the overall appeal of the video content, as music lowers the barriers to the creation and encourages people to easily join in on memes and trends. The rest of the talk featured helpful hints and tips on how to best utilise the Shorts feature, whilst giving the audience an open invitation to join them in the Youtube Shorts Lounge for more informative workshops.

Pete Tong & Lyor Cohen

Photo: David Holderbach

The main conference room is really busy for two occasions, one for the opening remarks and when a big name DJ comes in for an interview. This year it was the DJ doing the interview, however, with UK dance music legend and IMS co-founder Pete Tong chatting with Lyor Cohen, (YouTube & Google; Global Head of Music USA) about his experiences in the Artist & Repertoire world. 

The two old friends had known each other for 40 working years, so there were some laughs to be had from the back-and-forth banter. In the first anecdote, he spoke about following his gut feeling when it came to identifying great artists. When radio stats and critics said that ‘Fight For Your Right’ by Beastie Boys was a “stiff” (No one liked it due to its violent sound) he thought the opposite and signed them to Def Jam. 

In Cohen’s words, he enjoyed “being on the frontline” of the music business as he has so many stories from his time working with artists. One amusing tale told of when he travelled to Bergen, Norway to try and sign now EDM superstar Kygo. Following being at a wedding in Florence, in full tuxedo, he travelled to see Kygo’s father and mother. They invited him to go on a 3-hour hike, had dinner with them and agreed to sign their son to the label. Unfortunately for Cohen, Sony swooped in and offered the young star, a three million dollar contract which he later took.

To sum up the enjoyment of his career “I felt like I’ve never had to really work for a living, I’ve had nearly 40 years of ‘avoiding work’. It’s not that I don’t work hard, it’s just I really love what I do. I don’t want to not do it.”

Back in Business 

Photo: Discover Ibiza

We left IMS on a high note, with a feeling that the first day had gone so successfully, that the conference and Ibiza were truly back in business. The following two days of the summit promised more fascinating subjects discussed through keynotes and workshops, covering everything from The new enterprises of NFTs and Web3 to Keynote Interviews with icons like Laurent Garnier. 

But there’s always one thing that is always on every delegate’s mind throughout the conference – the grand finale at Dalt Vila. This year’s line-up at the ancient citadel is a delicious mix of big-name stars and respected selectors, all of which are ready to ignite the fireworks in Ibiza Town. All the thrills of a festival stage, on a paradise Balearic island – parties don’t come better than this!